Insulated tanks are used in the power distribution and control industry to house and insulate electronic equipment, such as circuit breakers, switches, transformers, servers, or circuit boards. These tanks can be filled with a gas or dielectric liquid that environmentally and/or electrically insulates the equipment from the environment outside of the tank.
Because these tanks are not open to the outside environment, removing heat generated by the electronic equipment can pose a problem. Finned heat sinks can be applied to the surface of the tank to dissipate heat, but they are limited by the airflow near the surface of the tank. Further, attaching a heat sink or other passive cooling device directly to the tank adds an additional thermal barrier between the cooling device and tank wall, impeding heat transfer.